Blue-Gay
by Madame Kiksters
Summary: Group projects sometimes allowed people to expand their horizons and find new friends, this one was no exception. Based off the text post I made on Tumblr.
1. Blue-Gay

"Lance, Keith!"

Two pairs of eyes were drawn to the professor standing at the front of the room holding two pieces of paper he'd drawn out of a box.

"You're partnered up for this assignment."

Lance groaned. Keith. He was that awkward kid who always sat quietly near the door.

He looked mournfully at his friend, Hunk, who shrugged before returning his attention to the professor to wait for who he was going to be partnered with.

When Lance looked across the rows of seats to locate Keith to see his reaction, he found the other glaring at him. It was because he did things like this that people rumored Keith hid a knife in the jacket he always wore.

Lance made a face before he threw his hands up in a challenge. He mentally snarked, "You got a problem?" before Keith's eyebrows furrowed impossibly more and he looked back towards the front of the class.

"I really don't like that guy." He muttered quietly so that only Hunk and maybe the person next to him would hear.

Hunk opened his mouth to answer before the professor called his name.

"Hunk, you're with Kolivan."

Hunk looked anxiously over at the intimidating face of the older student, rumor had it the scar over his right eye was acquired in a bar fight. He never told anyone otherwise, or offered an explanation of his own, so the rumor stuck.

Class carried on this way until everyone was partnered up. There weren't many students, it was a teaching class after all, so it didn't take too long.

"I want you guys to pick a topic off this list," He waved a piece of paper in the air before he stuck it to the whiteboard with one of the many magnets. "And teach it to the class next week. I'll be passing out a survey sheet for everyone to grade how well the topic was presented and if it was understood."

Hunk raised his hand.

The professor sighed before he announced. "Yes, Hunk. The rubric will be posted online under your course resources tab by tonight."

Hunk smiled bashfully as he lowered his hand.

"Any further questions?"

Lance petulantly thought about requesting a new partner, but he held his tongue. Professor Rufus Leon was a great man, and one of the few professors that seemed to like him and actually get his jokes. He didn't want to do anything to make the man not like him.

It wasn't like he'd picked the partners himself. He'd obviously drawn them at random from the box.

Lance had no way of knowing that Prof Leon didn't have any of the names on the papers. He just assigned people into groups based on who he thought would be good together and pretended to read names from a bunch of blank slips of paper.

When no one answered, Professor Leon nodded. "Good. I'll give you the rest of class time to pick your topic and come up with a plan to work on it. Use this time wisely because anything you don't get done today will have to be done on your own time."

There was a murmur of agreement among the class before the professor took an available seat near the front of the class and began scrolling through social media on his phone.

A few brave students got up first and meandered over to the list to look through the topics.

Lance sighed as he got up to join them. He threw a look over his shoulder to find Hunk pushing out his chair to follow before he looked to see if Keith was following his example.

The punk had somehow managed to maneuver in front of everyone to stand right in front of the paper. Lance couldn't resist rolling his eyes as he stood near the back and helped Hunk by reading off the list. He could see the small printed words perfectly, even at a distance, he'd always been blessed with having excellent vision.

He mentally chose one as he continued reading aloud quietly for Hunk.

He was almost done when Keith reached up and scrawled his name next to the topic Lance had mentally chosen before he turned back, face still in the glare he'd been using to stare up at the paper.

"Are you okay with this one?" Keith asked.

Lance felt his own eyes narrow in response. He almost wanted to give Keith a hard time and disagree just because he'd already put his name there, but he didn't.

"Yeah, that's good."

At Lance's acceptance, Keith wrote down Lance's name right beside his before turning around and shuffling through the crowd.

As he stood in front of Lance, his face softened until he was no longer glaring, but instead was staring passively up at him.

"I think we should exchange emails. That way we can send files to each other." Keith offered.

Lance stared for a moment, Keith was really...different up close. He didn't seem like the hardened serial killer lying in wait when he wasn't glaring and looking up at you.

"Uh, yeah. That would be perfect." he answered as he came back to himself. "My phone is really basic though, so I can't check my emails or anything. I have to physically get on the computer to do anything like that." He chuckled awkwardly, preparing for the judgmental look.

"Okay, that's fine. Give me your number and I'll send you a text, so you can have mine." Keith answered as he pulled his phone out of his pocket, his thumbs waiting over the keyboard as he looked up at Lance expectantly.

That's it? Lance felt incredibly grateful to Keith for not making a scene about him not having a smart phone in this day and age.

He told him his number and Keith brought his phone incredibly close to his face as tapped it into the new contact listing before he sent a quick text.

Lance turned his back towards the group and pulled out his flip phone, using Hunk as a shield. A true friend.

 **Unknown Number:** Hi! It's Keith

Lance smiled before he could stop it. He saved the number before replying.

 **Lance:** Who else would it be?

 **Keith:** I don't know. Just saying hi by itself felt weird

Hunk, ever the voice of reason, interjected. "You guys are standing, like, two feet apart. Just talk."

"I believe you're Hunk." The three boys startled and turned to face the commanding voice.

Hunk shied away a bit nervously. "Yes?"

Kolivan nodded before he handed Hunk a piece of paper.

"I wrote down all of my contact information. Feel free to add them to your contacts when you are able."

"Oh." Hunk looked down at the paper before he smiled, relieved that Kolivan wasn't as cold as he seemed. "Thank you."

The older man's face seemed to soften for a moment before he motioned towards the board.

"I was wondering if you had any preference for any of the topics listed?"

Hunk shook his head. "No, not really."

Kolivan's brow furrowed. "Oh." He clearly hadn't expected Hunk's answer. "I was planning to just go with whatever you wanted because I was fine with anything."

Hunk now looked troubled too.

Lance slung an arm around Hunk's wide shoulders.

"Why don't you pick the one about child safety? You're always talking about how we can do better as a society for future generations!" Lance offered, and Hunk blushed.

"That sounds perfect! I, myself am passionate about helping future generations do better than their predecessors."

Hunk's eyes lit up. Usually, only Lance liked to listen to his hours-long spiels about issues Hunk deemed important.

Lance was happy for his friend. His partner wasn't as bad as they'd thought either.

He turned back to find Keith glaring at his phone as he typed.

"Who are you texting?" Lance asked, he was nosy. Keith would have to learn to live with it for the duration of the project.

"I'm reading an article." Keith answered distractedly after a moment.

Lance wondered what the article was about to make Keith look so angry. Was he just always reading negative articles?

"What's it about?" Lance asked as he leaned over to find the words ridiculously enlarged.

"I'm trying to find out." Keith mumbled, and Lance didn't have to try very hard to catch a few key words as Keith slowly scrolled through his phone.

From what he could tell, the article was about a recent neurological study on dogs that proved they loved their human owners. Why would he glare at that? Was he completely against animal testing in all forms?

Lance read alongside him quietly, and a little impatiently, as he waited for Keith to scroll down enough so he could read the next bit.

Keith sighed before he looked up at Lance, his face softened once more.

"It was about this study on dogs and how much they loved their humans. It was cute."

Lance was thrown for a loop. Glaring daggers at something you found cute? He really didn't understand Keith, and probably never would.

"You…" Looked like you wanted to murder the author. "Nevermind."

Keith raised a brow before he nodded.

"Did you want to meet up somewhere after class so we can talk more about our project?"

Lance looked up in thought, he had work right after class and he wouldn't be free until late that night. Luckily the next day was the weekend and he wasn't scheduled to come in.

"How about Saturday?"

Keith hummed before answering. "I'm free until the afternoon?"

"Perfect!" Lance smiled, and Keith gave him a small one in return.

"I just don't get it, Lance. Why does he have such a bad rep when he's so studious and...well...honestly he's kind of boring."

Lance leaned back in his desk chair, phone pressed against his ear, as a word document sat half-finished on his computer screen.

"Listen, Hunk. My dude, if he's so boring, why don't you try being the one to lighten the mood?" was his bored reply as he stared ahead blankly at his screen.

"You know I'm terrible at starting conversations! I never know what to say and I just get so nervous and tongue-tied that it just makes it even worse! Don't you remember that time in third grade?"

Lance smiled at the memory. "You mean with Kelly Graives?" He teased.

Hunk groaned on the other line. "Yessss!"

"Didn't she refuse to sit next to you after that?"

"I apologized over and over again, but she wouldn't believe me!"

"Well, I mean. When you try to answer an eight-year-old who was just trying to say hello with 'Happy to eat you', that can happen."

"You **know** I couldn't decide whether to say 'happy to meet you' or 'would you like to eat lunch with me'! It wasn't like I did it on purpose!"

Lance outright laughed at the indignation in Hunk's voice. He barely heard Hunk admonishing him for it over his amusement.

After he'd settled down and Hunk had laughed at his past self's mistake, Lance continued the earlier conversation.

"Look, you've already met the guy. So, the hardest part is out of the way."

"That's really not the hardest part." Hunk interjected, but Lance ignored him.

"All you have to do after you greet him, is to come up with those witty puns you always seem to pull from thin air."

Hunk was quiet.

"You really think it'll work?"

"If we weren't just friends, I'd so be into you. You're one of the smartest, handsomest, guys I know!"

"Who's the other one?" Hunk asked curiously.

Lance waggled his brows and knew that Hunk would know he was as well by the tone of his voice when he answered. "Why, yours truly, of course."

Hunk grunted before he laughed. "I don't know how I didn't see that coming, but I'm not surprised."

"You know you love me." Lance chirped happily as his cat wound her way between his legs before she tried to hop in his lap.

"And not a day goes by that I don't regret it."

"Hey!"

They shared a laugh that tapered into giggles.

"Alright, bud. I gotta go. I have to finish this paper because I probably won't be able to work on it tomorrow."

"What paper?"

"The one for Humanities."

Hunk sputtered on the other line. "Lance! That is due **tomorrow**!"

"Which is precisely why I am doing it and turning it in today, so I won't forget about it while I work with Keith on our project tomorrow."

"Oh my go-"

Lance cut off Hunk's rant about procrastinating before it could begin. "Anyways! Talk to you later, Hunk!" Before he snapped his phone shut to effectively end the call.

He breathed out a sigh of relief as he set his phone on his desk and pet the cat in his lap a bit before she began to purr.

He inhaled deeply before he sat up, startling the cat a little, but not enough to make her jump down from her comfy spot.

"Right." He had a paper to finish, and he wanted to get it done at a reasonable hour, so he could get enough sleep for the next morning.

Lance woke up just before his alarm went off, and, like he usually did, he hit the snooze button to give himself a few extra minutes to wake up. He snuggled back into the warm cocoon of his blankets as he registered his cat was curled up at his feet.

He looked around his room trying to wake up his brain before he felt his eyelids grow heavy and he closed them for momentary relief.

His alarm went off again and he turned it off with a great sigh.

He groaned as he slowly climbed out from under his blankets trying not to disturb the cat.

It was a pointless endeavor, for as soon as he was on his feet, the orange tabby stood with a stretch and padded over to stand at the edge of the bed where Lance stood.

"'Morning, Lasaña." He yawned before he ruffled the fur on top of the cat's head. She closed her eyes and leaned into the touch with a content purr.

He gave a tired smile as he left his room and headed to the bathroom next to it. He completed his bathroom routine before returning to his room for some clothes.

He pulled out his usual comfy clothes before he remembered he was going to have to meet up with Keith soon. Stuffing the sweatpants back in the drawer, he grabbed his comfiest pair of jeans before he left to take a quick shower.

After he'd gotten ready, he checked his phone to see if Keith had cancelled on him or anything.

 **1 Unread Message**

Lance opened the message to see it was from Keith.

 **Keith:** hey, just wanted to make sure we were still meeting up to work on our project

Lance typed a quick reply saying he was going to be leaving soon and felt the need to add that he wanted to feed the cat and himself first.

His phone chimed right after with another text alert.

 **Keith:** What kind of cat?

Lance never wished he had a phone with a camera more than in this moment so that Keith could bask in the glory that was his adorable 'Aña.

He looked down to find the tabby looking up at him with her large, golden eyes.

Lance smiled as he typed his answer on his number pad.

 **Lance:** the most special cat ever

 **Lance:** my cute little Aña

Lance had learned a long time ago how to get special characters on his phone's number pad when he texted. He had quite a few family members who barely spoke any English after all.

 **Keith:** that is cute

 **Keith:** I have a cat named Grumpy

There was a pause before the next text as Lance's brow furrowed. He hadn't expected Keith to name his cat something like that. Honestly, he expected something…edgier.

 **Keith:** my mom named her. I wanted to call her something cool like Blade

Lance almost laughed at that. Lasaña chose that moment to rub against his legs with a demanding meow.

"Alright! Alright. Let's get you some food."

As he left the room and headed for the cabinet where he stored the cat bowl and her food, Lasaña raced past him and waited next to the door as she licked her chops with anticipation.

When he poured the food in the bowl and set it down next to her water bowl, after he'd refreshed it. He stroked her back a few times as she ate before straightening and heading for the fridge.

He pulled out some premade tostones out of the freezer and set them on the counter.

He fried them in some light oil and cooked some eggs to go with it. A breakfast fit for a king, or so he told Lasaña when he sat down at his small table and she looked up at him, whiskers twitching as she sniffed the air hungrily.

After he ate his fill and cleaned up, he sent Keith a quick text letting him know he was on his way, and he was out the door.

"You already found all of this?" Lance whisper-shouted as he sat next to Keith, who was seated at a small table loaded with books.

Keith gave him a small smile as he looked up from the book he was skimming.

"Yeah, I was on the computer searching around, but then the librarian's assistant helped me find what I was looking for." Keith whispered back.

Lance looked at the twenty or so books scattered along the table. Keith appeared to have no system for going through the books, or at least not one Lance could see.

"Which ones have you already looked through?"

Keith motioned to the two books just to his right.

"I went through these and found a page in them, but it was almost the same exact information." He answered as his eyes scanned the current page he was on before he closed the book with a sigh and set it on top of the other two. "This one too. I didn't think it would be so hard to find information on our topic."

Lance nodded as he pulled a book closer to him and scanned the index for keywords to hasten their search.

They continued skimming through their research until they found enough data to compile into a teaching plan.

"How do you want to go about presenting this?" Keith asked.

"I have the PowerPoint program that the school gave us. We could do that?"

Keith raised a brow. "The school gives us programs? I always just do a verbal presentation or a poster board. Maybe some handouts."

Lance smiled. "You should be able to see it on your Student tab. There's like, a little box that says 'resources'? It's there I believe."

Keith hummed in thought as he typed that in on his phone before pocketing it. "I'll have to look into that later. Thanks."

"No problemo." Lance answered as he pointed at Keith with finger guns.

Keith looked at him with confusion.

Lance looked down at his outfit self-consciously before looking back up at Keith a little nervously. "What?"

"I…I thought it was 'no hay problema'?"

Lance laughed loud enough that the librarian shushed him and the people around them gave him dirty looks, but he didn't mind too much.

"It is, I was just trying to make a stupid joke." Lance explained sheepishly.

Keith's eyebrows lifted with understanding as he nodded. He didn't laugh, but there was a tiny smile peeking from the side of his face when Lance let his eyes drift to the side.

Lance couldn't help the smile that curved his lips as he set to skimming through the material as well to make sure they'd gotten everything.

Lance had just finished cleaning up his dinner dishes when his phone buzzed on the counter.

He checked the ID to find it was Hunk calling before he flipped the phone open and pressed the answer key. "Hey, buddy. What's up?"

"Oh my God, Lance. I've ruined everything!"

"What?" Lance shouted, alarmed as he felt his eyebrows nearly lift to his hairline and tilted the phone a little away from his ear to prevent hearing loss.

"I used some of my best puns and he…" Lance heard Hunk sniffle and he stood to get ready to throw hands for his friend's honor. "He asked me if I was even taking our project seriously before he **left**."

Lance sank back into his chair. "Shit, Hunk… you need me to come over?"

Hunk was quiet for a moment before Lance heard him distantly blowing his nose. He felt his face morph into disgust before he pulled his phone far enough away that he couldn't hear the sound anymore.

When he heard the tinny sound of Hunk's voice again, Lance deemed the phone safe to bring back to his ear. I'll be okay. I'm just worried that he thinks I'm an idiot or something."

"Hunk, you're like…the smartest person in our college. Including the professors!"

Hunk gasped. "Lance! That wasn't very nice."

Lance could hear the smile in his friend's voice and felt relieved. "I don't know?" Lance continued in a snooty tone, "I've seen several professors get on the elevator and stand around without pushing any buttons."

"Yeah? And how long were the both of you standing there waiting to go up to the same floor?"

"Hey! I'm not in charge of teaching a class. I'm allowed to be an idiot!"

"Lance, you are literally going to teach a class next week…or did you forget?"

Lance sputtered dramatically and Hunk's cackling on the other line made it all worth it. After his friend had settled down, Lance asked him one last time, gently, "Seriously…do you want me to come over?"

There was a pause as Hunk seemed to consider it before he sighed. "Nah, I think I'm good…thanks, Lance."

"For what?"

"For being a good friend."

Lance snorted. "I'm the best friend, and don't you forget it!"

Hunk giggled once more. "Of course."

"Talk to you later."

"Later."

Lance had barely finished setting his phone down when he felt it buzz again. He laughed as he instinctively checked the Caller ID, fully expecting Hunk to call him back and tell him he'd changed his mind and really didwant Lance over.

Blue eyes widened as he found Keith's name on the display.

He looked down at Lasaña in panic. "What should I say?" He cleared his throat and tried several different versions of saying 'Hello' and decided he hated them all.

He sighed and rubbed his neck as he tried to calm himself. "Pretend it's Hunk. Pretend it's Hunk."

He flipped open the phone and pressed the answer key before the call dropped. "Hey, buddy." He choked quietly to himself as he heard Keith stammer on the other end.

"Uh..um. hey…buddy?"

Lance bit his bottom lip as he rested the screen of his phone against his forehead and prayed for a retry.

He managed to collect himself to awkwardly ask, "What did you need?"

"I was…trying to do the thing. With the programs that you talked about earlier today? I can't find them."

Lance's brow wrinkled as his mind found something to focus on other than his own embarrassment. "Hang on, let me check my computer and see if I can find it. Maybe I told you the wrong thing?"

There was silence, but Lance instinctively knew Keith had shrugged. He pulled up the college website and signed in before checking the tab he'd remembered it being under. A quick scan revealed he'd remembered it correctly.

"It's there. Kind of on the bottom right of the screen."

"Oh! I see it!"

"Guess you must have just missed it." Lance laughed.

"…yeah."

Lance felt an awkward and tense silence settle over the conversation and knew he was honor-bound to fill it. "Was there anything else?"

"Umm no. Thank you…buddy."

Lance nearly smacked himself on the forehead as his phone returned to its earlier position there. He recovered in record time and managed to answer that he was glad he could help before he said farewell and ended the call.

He looked down at his cat and found her golden eyes judging him.

He had no way of knowing about the small, excited smile that Keith unknowingly wore.

The next day, Lance woke up to two texts from Hunk and one from Keith. Before he did anything else he checked them to make sure they weren't important.

 **Hunk:** r u awake?

 **Hunk:** nvm

Lance smiled as he shook his head with fond exasperation at his friend before he checked the last text.

 **Keith:** good morning buddy

Lance planted his face back into his pillow. Lasaña padded up his body and massaged his shoulders, bordering between painful and pleasurable. With enough pressure in a particularly tender spot, Lasaña successfully roused Lance from the bed.

He completed his usual routine before he answered both of them. To Hunk, Lance sent a simple text of :Ubefore he turned his focus to responding to Keith.

 **Lance:** good morning!

He immediately set to worrying at his bottom lip as he deleted the exclamation mark and added the word 'buddy' at the end instead.

He sent it before he could agonize over it anymore and released the breath he hadn't known he'd been holding.

So, Lance had inadvertently promoted Keith from friendly to friend last night. He hoped he wouldn't regret not correcting himself last night.

Though, honestly, he couldn't imagine turning down Keith's excited return of the phrase with a dismissal. The kid looked like he didn't have any friends, maybe Lance could help change that?

He continued his weekend working on his portion of the PowerPoint before he sent what he had to Keith asking for him to send his.

What Keith sent was…lackluster. He'd obviously tried to make it look nice, but the theme he'd chosen clashed with the color of the text Keith had chosen to make them visible…and the text size was enormous.

A quick grab and select revealed size thirty-six font.

"Damn!" Lance shouted in surprise before he looked around, expecting someone to come glare at him for cursing so loudly.

He hurriedly sent a text to Keith.

 **Lance:** hey you do know you don't need to make the text so big. the projector will make it big enough to read for everyone

It startled Lance when his phone buzzed and had Keith's name on the display. He answered it hesitantly.

"Hello?"

"I totally forgot to make it smaller before I sent it! Sorry!"

Lance laughed. Not expecting Keith to be a total spaz like Hunk and himself were. It was oddly charming. "Stop that." Lance chastised himself for that last thought.

"What was that?"

"Uhh…" Lance looked around his room, his eyes landing on his cat, who didn't stray too far from him when he was home. "Nothing, just scolding the cat."

Lasaña cracked open an eye before she seemed to take offense and turn her back to him.

"Oh. Right! You told me you had a cat but you didn't tell me what she looked like."

"Lasaña is the cutest orange tabby in the world."

"Lasagna? You named your cat Lasagna?" Keith sounded skeptical.

"Well… I mean…I spell it with an 'ñ' so, not exactly like the food." Lance explained.

"And you call her Aña for short?"

"Yup!"

"That's…cute." He sounded surprised.

Lance nodded even though he knew Keith couldn't see him. "A cute name for a cute cat."

Keith chuckled on the other end before there was only the awkward sound of each other's breathing.

Lance looked towards his ceiling helplessly before he pinched his nose and wracked his brain for something to say. "So, that font thing. Why'd you make it so big in the first place?"

"Oh uhh…" If Lance was a gambling man, he would bet Keith's cheeks sported a blush. "I have a hard time seeing."

Lance felt his brain roll to a stop. "Like…are you…blind?" He squeaked the last word hesitantly.

"No! No. I just have a hard time seeing things far away. Well…reading. I can see, just…letters blur into each other and make it hard to read."

"Do you have glasses?"

"I mean…I had my contacts, but I ran out a bit ago. I haven't been able to get them refilled."

Lance hummed as he thought of something. "Hey, Keith. Quick question."

"Yes?"

"Far away…are you able to see people's faces?"

"If I squint I can usually make everything out…why?"

Ah…

Lance suddenly felt like a judgmental ass. "Just curious…" There was a silence that stretched on and made Lance squirm. "A lot of people think you're mean."

"Mean?" Keith seemed taken aback.

"Yeah…because you're always quiet, and you glare a lot."

"What?" Keith sounded panicked. "I just can't ever think of what to say! I don't know anyone here besides my coworkers!"

"Sorry!" Lance offered. "At least you know me now? And Hunk by association, of course."

There was a smile in Keith's voice when he answered after a long moment. "I guess that's true."

"See? You'll be Mr. Popular in no time!" Lance tried awkwardly.

"I doubt that." Keith snorted, and Lance felt his eyes widen with surprise.

Lance couldn't think of anything further to say, but he knew he didn't want to hang up quite yet.

"You want to practice giving our presentation?"

"That would be nice…idea! **A** nice **idea**."

Lance found his cheeks were beginning to hurt with how wide his smile had grown. "Then let's get started."

When Lance strolled into class he found Hunk surprisingly chipper.

"What happened to you? Free college?" Lance asked as he set his bag down in the chair beside Hunk's.

"No." His friend hummed, and Lance twisted his body to give Hunk a skeptical look.

Noticing the critical look, Hunk relented with a laugh. "Alright, Mr. Nosy."

"Exactly right. You know how I am. Now spill." Lance had never felt more glad for the fact that he and Hunk often arrived ridiculously early to class.

Hunk turned towards Lance with a smile. "I managed to talk to Kolivan yesterday and we patched things up. He even tried to make a joke!"

"Tried? Was it funny?"

Hunk shrugged. "Kinda?"

Lance slapped a hand onto his friend's desk seriously. Comedy was serious business after all. "What was it?"

"He said something about a barber asking how he wanted his hair cut….and the punchline was…in silence. He told me he'd read that one in a paper when he was younger and had never forgotten it."

Lance felt his face drop. How could such an intimidating man stoop so low. "Oh Hunk…did you laugh?"

"I had to! It was made much easier with him laughing along. He's got a pretty nice laugh."

Lance eyed his friend. "Careful, Hunk. I think you're swooning." He warned.

Hunk's cheeks darkened as he sputtered. "I am not! He has a nice laugh. You have a nice laugh!"

"That is very true, my friend…but name someone other than me, Kolivan, and yourself that has a nice laugh that you don't like."

"I don't have a nice laugh!"

"Hunk, I swear. Sometimes…I just want to pinch those cheeks of yours, so you'll never be able to say such nonsense again." Lance narrowed his eyes pointedly. "Now, quit trying to avoid the topic."

"You're insufferable."

Lance was stopped by the other students who began to filter inside. The professor also looked disappointed to miss out on the conclusion of the conversation.

"This isn't over."

Hunk sighed.

The rest of the class was spent with Lance occasionally boring holes into Hunk with his eyes.

Lance had followed Hunk home, much to his friend's annoyance. They both knew Lance wouldn't stay too long, worried his cat might freak out with the unexpectedly long absence.

He flopped onto Hunk's bed before finding a comfortable position to lounge in. Hunk was left to sit on his plush computer chair that he'd enhanced himself with stuffing and soft fabric.

"Alright. I gave you all day out of respect for our friendship. Now…give it to me straight. Are you getting the hots for Kolivan?"

Hunk put his face in his hands. "I don't know?" He whined.

"Uh oh."

"I know!" Hunk sighed as he looked up helplessly. Lance winced at his friend's pitiful expression.

"What are you going to do?"

Hunk leaned back into his chair and looked up at his sticker-covered ceiling. "Nothing? He's like…way older than me so…it would be weird. We don't really have anything in common."

"What? How old is he?"

Hunk had a slight blush when he answered, "I haven't asked…but look at him. He's so mature and smart and…and…."

"Wow…I didn't think it was this bad."

Lance's comment made Hunk's face fall. "Neither did I."

"This is awfully quick. I mean. It's only been…what…half a week?"

Hunk twiddled his fingers shyly and Lance's eyes widened.

"No. No way. How long?"

"Remember that one class I took last year, that you had to take at a different time slot because of work hours?"

"God, that was awful."

Hunk nodded in agreement before he continued. "I uh…I may have noticed him sitting in the front in that class."

"Hunk!" Lance screeched and sat up to reach over and grab Hunk's shoulders. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't think I'd ever see him again. Let alone be forced to work with him."

"Buddy…that sounds terrible."

Hunk smiled sadly. "It was so wonderful though."

"Whoa! Stop right there! No more of that until you decide if you want this for yourself. Honestly? I would start with his age. So you can quit agonizing over it."

Hunk pulled his phone out of his bag and pulled up Kolivan's number.

"What should I say?" He asked.

"I don't know…uhh… hey. I was just wondering how old you were?"

"Lance…that's a terrible way to ask someone their age."

Lance shrugged. "Kolivan seems like a straightforward kinda guy.

Hunk looked at him with hope shining in his warm, brown eyes. "You really think so?"

"It's worth a shot. Unless you have something better in mind?"

Hunk looked down at his phone and began typing. He sucked in a breath before pressing send.

They waited a short eternity before Hunk's phone chimed with a text alert.

"What did he say?" Lance asked as he leaned closer trying to see for himself.

"He said." Hunk looked up. "Lance...he's only thirty."

Lance's eyes widened impossibly further. "That's only seven years older than us!" He shook his head and piled in behind Hunk to read over his friend's shoulder. "I don't believe it. He looks so…. old." Lance looked at Hunk apologetically. "Sorry, buddy."

"I mean. I thought he was at least forty!" Hunk admitted.

Lance shook his head in disappointment. "Damn. And you were still pining. So... does this make it better? Or worse?"

"Both?"

Lance patted his friend's shoulder. "Well...at least he's not too old for you? Not that I think that would have stopped you."

Hunk moaned dejectedly.

"Now all you have to do is see if he's interested."

Hunk narrowed his eyes as he looked up at Lance. "Sometimes I wonder how we ever became friends if we're both this awkward?"

"Excuse you." Lance placed a hand on his chest indignantly. "I'm not awkward. Other people sometimes just feel awkward when I try to talk to them."

Hunk hummed. "Right. Of course. So, Mr. Love Guru, why aren't you already happily married then?"

"And leave my nearest and dearest friend to fend for himself? Never!"

Hunk playfully shoved Lance away from nearly hanging over his shoulders with a laugh. "Right."

Hunk's phone chimed again, and the two boys froze before Hunk picked it up. "'Why?'" He read.

Lance watched as Hunk's thumb slid over the screen and words appeared.

"That must be nice." Lance sighed longingly.

Hunk shrugged as he finished typing out his message. "What do you think?"

 **Hunk:** you just seem really mature. I always feel like i don't know anything when i am with you

"Hunk...what are you doing? Fishing for compliments?" Lance paused before he smirked deviously. "I love it. Send it!"

They waited for a bit after Hunk sent the message for the reply and were not disappointed when it finally arrived.

 **Kolivan:** if working on this project is any indication of your hard work and intelligence then i must admit I am impressed by someone so young having such diligence

"Oh my...he's wondering how old you are!"

"You think so?"

Lance wasted no time and typed in the response for Hunk. Slower than Hunk himself, but not by too much.

"There. What do you think?"

"I think you just sent the text."

Lance's eyes widened. "What?"

He looked down to find he had indeed managed to press the send button.

 **Hunk:** i'm only seven years younger than you. You're way more impressive 3

"Oh shit! Sorry Hunk. Tell him I sent it! Oh my." Lance paced the floor frantically before they heard the phone chime.

The energy in the air grew heavy with anticipation as Hunk opened the new message. "Oh no." Hunk muttered.

"What! What did he say?" Lance nearly screeched.

"My phone bill is due tomorrow."

Lance felt his brain pause. "What?"

"It was just a text reminding me to pay my phone bill, Lance."

Lance felt his chin tremble. "I don't know if I can take this waiting."

Hunk's phone chimed as Lance was finishing his sentence.

"Is it him?"

Hunk nodded as he opened the text and read it quietly. His cheeks pinked, and Lance nearly flew around behind Hunk, so he could read too.

 **Kolivan:** careful, or i might get the wrong idea with those hearts

Lance nearly squeaked. "Ask him! Ask him!"

Hunk's finger moved over the keyboard stiffly.

 **Hunk:** what idea would that be?

"Lance, I swear, if he calls me, consider our friendship ended, because if I try to talk to him it's going to be like third grade all over again."

Hunk's phone chimed once, then twice, before it continued to play a tune indicating Hunk was receiving a call.

Lance danced out of the way of Hunk's playful swipes with a laugh as he chanted at Hunk to answer his phone.

"Hello?"

Lance heard talking coming from the other line, but he couldn't make out what it was saying.

Hunk's face, neck, and ears darkened as he blushed nervously. "What if I said I was interested?"

There was silence before the voice on the other line spoke again. Hunk sputtered unintelligibly before he seemed to melt. "Y-yeah, that would be wonderful!"

The voice answered again before Hunk replied. "Alright... see you then."

He pulled his phone away from his ear and ended the call with a press of his finger. He looked up in a daze before he turned to Lance and an award-winning smile split Hunk's face.

"We're going on a date."

Lance's eyes widened before he scooped Hunk into his scrawny arms to the best of his ability. "Hunk, that's so awesome!"

They sat like that for a minute longer before Lance smirked playfully. "Does this mean I am forgiven for sending the heart?"

Hunk wrapped his arms around Lance and squeezed tight enough that Lance lost his breath, before he nodded and released his friend with a laugh.

"Also...I really need to get a smartphone."

"Ohh! I can help you pick out the best one for the best price!" Hunk reassured Lance.

"I'm sure you will, buddy." Lance said as he patted Hunk's shoulder.

Lance and Keith shared a quick glance at each other after they'd finished their presentation and grinned victoriously before looking at their fellow classmates.

"Any questions?"

No hands raised into the air, so Prof. Leon called Lance and Keith back to their seats. The project was finally over, but Lance and Keith's friendship was just beginning.

Lance no longer cringed when he referred to Keith as 'buddy' and had long since stopped feeling obligated to call him that. Keith was still a little awkward when he'd say it to him in person, but it only added to the unique charm Keith's awkwardness had.

That afternoon, Lance received his phone in the mail. He'd asked Hunk how to transfer all of his data over and had been awed when he learned he could keep all of his contacts without having to manually put them in.

He made sure it was completely charged before he used it for the first time. It was a lot more personalized than anything he'd ever owned before. Trying to connect everything he would ever need on this one device!

After what felt like an eternity, Lance was free to send Keith and Hunk a message about his new phone.

He promptly took a blurry photo of his cat Lasaña and sent his two friends pictures of her snuggled at his feet.

Hunk had left him on Read. A feature Lance appreciated immensely because it let him know if the other person had seen his message. He would grow to hate it.

He wasn't hurt, figuring that Hunk was off gallivanting with Kolivan somewhere.

Keith, however, responded with a picture of his own cat. Grumpy was the perfect name for the gray tabby. Her eyes glared at the camera in Keith's own blurry photo.

 **Keith:** sorry, the photo doesn't do her justice. I don't take good pictures

Lance laughed and sent a reply. From then on, the two would text each other every night and would occasionally hang out somewhere in town, preferably somewhere free and close by.

Months later, Lance was laying in his bed waiting for Keith to send him another text. The one before asked if Keith could ask him something. Lance had agreed, using a pair of eyes that he had found in the emojis he'd explored and had been using them everywhere ever since.

 **Keith:** what color do you think my eyes are?

 **Lance:** why are you asking?

 **Keith:** people keep telling me that they look purple. But i always thought they were kinda gray

Lance looked up as he thought about Keith. He tried to remember the eyes and didn't mind the perfect clarity he was able to see Keith's face with in his mind.

 **Lance:** i always thought they were blue gay

Lance set his phone down, confident in his phone's spellcheck abilities that he hardly read what he wrote before sending it.

His brow wrinkled when the phone didn't buzz right away. He picked it up to see Keith was typing before the text bubble appeared with his reply.

 **Keith:** i think you're missing an "r" there

Lance looked back at his text and read it through again. It was only on his third readthrough that he realized he'd accidentally left the "r" out of gray. He smacked his face before he tried to hurriedly correct himself.

He typed out the correction and his apology before his thumb hovered over the send button. He'd been entertaining the thought of dating Keith for a while, but they were so firmly rooted in the "buddy zone" that he didn't know how to bring it up.

He deleted his response and typed a new one.

 **Lance:** no

 **Lance:** I'm missing "u"

He laid back and waited for Keith's response. It took an unholy amount of time before he felt the buzz of a response.

He bravely opened the message and found a recording. He pressed play and received another message right after as the audio clip played.

"I miss you too, idiot."

The text was much less intelligible.

 **Keith:** are you stupid phone see this is why i shouldn't be so lazy and use voice to text

 **Keith:** aslkdfj

 **Keith:** DON'T LISTEN TO THE RECORDING!

Lance smiled as he replayed the shy voice of Keith as he muttered to himself something he thought he would probably never say to Lance.

The texts after were so obviously Keith getting flustered, that Lance giggled happily.

* * *

 **Notes:**

 **So, I wrote that. I only intended for it to be like 1K at the most. I can't believe I had so much fun.**


	2. What Did I Just Tell You?

**Summary:**

 **Kolivan was seven when he learned the hard way that he should heed his mother's warnings.**

 **Notes:**

 **This is the story of how Kolivan got his scar...at least in my AU XD**

* * *

 **What Did I Just Tell You?**

Kolivan was seven when he learned the hard way that he should heed his mother's warnings.

"Oli, where are you going?"

The boy groaned as his mother used his nickname. The one he hated and had complained about ever since the boys at school had made fun of him for having a girly name. Not that his mother cared. She didn't bat an eye at his groan and simply raised a brow waiting for him to answer.

"I'm gonna play outside!" he nearly whined. He wasn't a baby anymore. Why couldn't his mom stop treating him like one?

"Are you going to play in the woods?" they both knew she wasn't asking. There wasn't anything to do but go play in the woods for a young boy. "Remember, don't run. You could fall and hurt yourself."

"I know, mom. I'll be careful." He knew adding a 'like always' would earn him a swat from his mother's shoe, and he wasn't in the mood to find out if she was willing to chase him today.

With that, he was out the door and running through his backyard until he hit the tree line. He stopped and turned to see if his mother was watching him. Like he'd anticipated, she was. Even from this distance he could tell her eyes were narrowed warningly.

He waved at her before turning and running into the woods. He heard his mother's outraged yell follow him as he laughed to himself.

What does mom know anyways? Kolivan thought as he continued weaving through the trees. He knew these woods like the back of his hand.

He jumped over a familiar root before he felt his foot slide out from under him on an unfamiliar wrapper that had been left by a hiker.

His eyes widened as his world tilted. It all seemed too fast to be real and yet too slow to not.

His eyes opened to find the sun a little higher in the sky than he'd remembered it being. His right eye wouldn't open.

Whimpering, Kolivan placed a hand on his eye and pulled it away far enough that his left eye could see.

Blood.

Oh no. Kolivan's heart stopped.

I'm blind!

The right side of his face burned, and he took it as further evidence that he had lost an eye. He searched around with his one good eye, his hand pressed gently over his wound.

He wasn't able to find it.

His lip trembled, and his eyes stung, one of them impossibly more, with tears. He picked up something shiny from the ground. This must have been what he'd slipped on. He stood and felt completely disoriented as he tried to get his bearings.

It took him longer than he would admit to find which direction led back home. He cried as he walked along carefully. He didn't want to lose his other eye…or worse!

He thought of what his friends would say when he had to have one of those seeing eye dogs.

That would be nice. Mom would have to let me have a dog then…right? He sniffled as he slowly picked his way through the forest.

Would he need to wear an eyepatch? Or sunglasses?

Of course, I'll have an eyepatch. I'm only missing one eye. Kolivan decided. Then I can pretend to be a pirate.

He looked up to the heavens. "But only pretend! I promise I won't do bad stuff anymore!"

Then he remembered his mother and how he had disobeyed her.

A fresh wave of tears coursed down his cheeks. "Why didn't I listen to her?"

If he hadn't been running, he wouldn't be blind. He vowed he would never disregard his mother's warnings ever again, if he could only be able to see again somehow.

Kolivan managed to find his way home. He was partially glad that he hadn't traveled too far from his house before he'd fallen…he would have probably been lost in the woods. Though, his face was starting to really hurt.

Kolivan shuffled to the door and opened it to find his mother cooking at the stove with her back to him.

Her head turned a little towards him and she opened her mouth, probably to yell at him for running.

Before she could speak, he whimpered, "Mommy." He sniffled. "I'm sorry."

His mother stiffened at the use of 'mommy' before she whipped around.

"Oli!"

In the next moment, she was kneeling beside him and touching his face anxiously as she asked him what happened.

Kolivan lost control and wailed inconsolably. His wound burned like it was on fire as he cried. She carried him to the phone and dialed for help.

It was only after they'd reassured her that someone was on their way that she hung up to console her child.

"I, I, can't…see!" he sobbed out.

His mother pulled him away and he could barely make out her confusion through his tears as he blubbered on.

"Oli, open your eye."

"I can't!"

His mother hummed in acknowledgement before she stood, carried him to the kitchen, and sat him on the counter. She turned the stove off before grabbing a clean rag and wetting it with water from the faucet.

"Let's see." She mused as she dabbed gently at the wound around his eye. It surprisingly wasn't painful in that area, Kolivan glumly thought it was because there was no eye to feel pain. "Now, open those beautiful eyes."

Kolivan cracked open his eye and after a moment his mother's partially blurred face focused and he could see just like before.

"There. See? Not as bad as you thought?"

Kolivan nodded as he continued hiccupping.

The ambulance arrived shortly thereafter and took him to the hospital. Everyone praised him for being such a big boy and not crying at all.

He was grateful his mother hadn't tattled on him and told everyone that he'd cried like a little baby before they'd showed up.

Kolivan was forced to stay in the hospital for a few days and had his first experience with stitches. Something he hoped he never had to deal with again.

He'd learned an important lesson. His mom was always right.


End file.
